Necessary Evil
by Ayla Curtis
Summary: Kain’s thoughts, feelings and actions surrounding the execution of Raziel as well as during and after the murder of the Razielim clan. One shot.


Disclaimer – I do not own the rights to Legacy of Kain.

**Necessary Evil**

**By**

**Ayla Curtis**

The Pillars Chamber of the Sanctuary of the Clans had been vacated. Not even the air within it moved as if the wind itself was afraid to rouse the creature that sat silently in the claw-like throne.

Eyes closed and head bowed the mighty emperor Kain watched his thoughts and memories play out behind his eyelids…contemplating what had occurred and what would soon be.

Raziel's screams still echoed within him, the drawn cry of his doomed son who had been ordered to execution by his very own voice. It had seemed to Kain as though the cold fiend who had instigated all of this, the one who had torn the still tender wings from the vampire's vulnerable back, who had announced those three words like shards of burning ice '_cast him in_' had not been him at all.

Since the moment Raziel had entered the Chamber to he second his screams were cut off as he was wrenched unwillingly out of the world of the living, Kain had felt as if he had taken a step away from the proceedings and allowed his body to go through the motions for him. He had felt as though it had been another who had done it all and he had just stood back and watched…wishing there had been some other way.

_Any _other way.

When he had seen the leathery wings unfold two separate emotions had torn him apart behind his cold façade. On the one hand he had felt an uneasy fear churning in his stomach; he had been waiting for this time and wanted for all the world that he could stop what needed to be done, that he might just forget his careful plans and admire the transformations of his dearest child. He had tried to remain detached from them all for he knew they would all die because of him eventually…but it was just too hard. Even though he would never admit it, in his own strange and incomprehensible way he loved them all as any father would those they had brought into the world. He had wanted to watch Raziel fly, wanted to be there to see him learn and help him those times that he would fall…but knew he couldn't for on the other hand was the more dominant need; the need to get it over with. The plan was more important; more was at stake than just his happiness.

It was done now. Raziel had been claimed by the cold water of the Abyss and within the next few centuries he would return, changed again. It was done, yet there was still more.

His eyes, slightly unfocused, opened to the cold, still and silent chamber and his claws scraped against the thrones arms as he clenched them. There was still more. More to be done. More to die.

"Is the monster feeling regret?" A hollow, sarcastic female voice echoed around the Pillars and then Ariel swiftly faded into view. "What an actor; feigning grief to an empty room. Are you practising for your announcement of these events to Raziel's clan?"

Kain raised his eyes to her and in an almost tired voice spoke. "Ariel, I know that tormenting me is the only pleasure you have left but for once could I ask that you leave me be?"

There had been quiet emotion in his words and she was almost taken aback by it…but her ingrained hatred and callousness persevered. "Oh, the lies that spew forth from your filthy mouth. An animal such as you does not know what feelings are."

He stood up so sharply that it surprised her. "Have you any other insults that you have a desire to hurl at me today? It seems customary after so many years to have you tell me what a heartless, shallow beast I am; cast from the very dregs of existence."

"Why bother when you have summed up all I had to say."

"What can you expect when you are a repetitive as the rising and falling of the sun?"

"One day, all of your sins will turn on you." She called to him as he turned his back to her and began to slowly walk away.

"I know." He said quietly.

-x-

He wished it was raining. He wished that the sky was ablaze with lightning and the ground would shake with thunder rumbling overhead. Not only would it be fitting for such and act to be committed in such dramatic conditions but it would also help him to do what had to be done. The bright flashing would briefly blind him of the sight of the faces wracked with pain, disbelief and betrayal, the thunder would drown out the screams that he was causing and the hard rain would wash away the un-dead blood that was spilt.

But weather, in true life, is notorious for it's unwillingness to comply with the laws of drama. The only reason that the sky was dark was because of the smoke being churned into the sky by the great furnaces. It was midday, the heat in the air was mild, barely enough to be noticed.

In the centre of Raziel's clan territory Kain stood alone, breathing harshly though he had no need to, head bowed and shoulders slumped as if he could barely support his own weight. Around him the stone that made the floor was slick with blood and gore, the deep red glaring harshly in the weak light. Within congealing pools of the thick life essence the bodies of they that had made up the Razielim clan lay silent and still.

Every last one of them was as dead as the next, each following their sire into the world beyond. The vague wind ruffled their hair and pulled at any loose clothing.

The same wind blew through the silky strands of silvery white that made up Kain's signature mane…once bright, it was now matted with streaks of blood, the same blood that traced rivulets over his skin. None of it his own.

It was by his hand that the Razielim line was created and so by his hand alone would it end. He had told no one of what he had planned; he had announced nothing of the desperate crime he intended to commit. He had gone straight from the Sanctuary to the Razielim territory without so much as a glance to anyone he passed on his way. Straight there…no question…no comment…unnoticed…barely two hours after the execution.

When he had entered the Sanctuary every pair of eyes had focused on him and had expected him, their emperor, to explain Raziel's missing presence. They knew nothing of his violent demise. He had stood there, where he stood now, and had called them all to him, had asked them to gather. They were not prepared for what happened next.

The chaos that ensued as he turned on them was greater than that of all the wars he had ever faced put together. Their confused screams and pleas could be heard constantly as he chased each of them down one by one and butchered them where he caught them. 'Butcher' being the correct word for the cold and emotionless way he tore them apart with his bare claws. He refused to draw the Soul Reaver; _he _had allowed the lives of the Razielim to exist and so it would be he that returned them to death. He would touch no weapon; the blood would be on his hands alone. This made things worse for him for it meant that each and every one had to have their heads or hearts ripped from them.

Raised a gentleman noble he had obeyed his breeding and struck down the females first, trying hard not to prolong their agonies any more that necessity commanded but they fought back, and many of them rallied to each others side in aid, males joining them as the pocket of fighting centred around him flared out. Every so often their desperate attacks would connect and he would feel pain of his own blazing within him…and he was glad. He wanted to smile and to laugh every time one of them hurt him for they deserved to make him pay, deserved to make him bleed and to suffer as they did.

Once the women were dead his attention turned to the men and he found that they dropped before him just as easily as those that had already passed. As their numbers dwindled they had begun to run, to attempt to flee from the thing that had entered their territory in the guise of their Lord. Many refused to believe that it could truly be him, even as their eyes clouded over in their death throes and he stood over them, watching the life drain out of them.

He could almost feel their fear. It was so thick in the air that he could have sworn that he would have been able to reach out and hold it. Some of them, abandoning the fights, managed to escape the main arena of the bloody massacre but they did not get far; he would track them and find them and bring them back, thrashing and screeching if he had to.

There were those who fought until the very end and died with their weapons still in the claws. There were some who whimpered quietly in a corner and waited for him to find them. A few clung hold of their lives even as it was torn from them and managed to crawl from him, leaving trails as they went that he could follow to where they had curled up beside their fellows. Some pleaded, some wept, some hollered verbal abuse, some of them even screamed for Raziel…but none survived. Worst of all was when he heard one of them yell out _his_ name; that one girl who just could not bring herself to admit that he was capable of such a horrific act of unrestrained, murderous insanity towards the children of his first son.

Kain replayed the slaughter in his head and saw each and every one of their faces etched there. They would never leave him. Every time he closed his eyes they would be waiting to remind him of all he had done.

All of the energy seemed to just drain out of him. Dragged down by the crushing emotional force of his own diabolical bloodbath he sank to his knees with a strained sigh, his hands limp.

It was over.

No…no it wasn't…he could still hear something, someone…short intakes of breath and gasps of pain…someone was still alive and trying to hide.

Unwilling, he rose back to his feet to end what he had started. With claws dragging and scuffing he paced to the source of the sound as though he hadn't the will to move any longer but was being pushed to do so. The last of the Razielim, one fledgling male, cowered against a wall with the blood-spattered corpse of another cradled in his arms. Streaks of crimson traced his bone white skin where wounds did not mar it and his entire body shook with uncontrollable fear and rage.

"Why!" The fledgling demanded, even his voice shaking. "What did we do? Where is our Master?"

Kain looked down on him, forcing the pity away and bringing back his mask of shameless indifference." Your Master Raziel is waiting for you."

"You killed him didn't you." The Razielim shook his head, as he did so beads of blood dropped from his hair and danced over the stone where they fell. "Bastard." That last word was spat out along with a mouthful of blood that splattered wetly against the body he held.

Kain knelt again, this time more carefully than before, and flexed his claws.

"Get it over with." The Razielim snarled, the fear fading and anger prevailing in his suddenly strong voice "But you can at least give me an explanation to take with me."

"I should," Kain said calmly, "But I won't." and without another word he lunged forwards, plunging his claw into the young vampire's chest. Punching straight though the ribcage designed to protect it he grabbed hold of the Razielim's heart, felt the tough muscle strain against his grip and then still as he tore it out.

No more screams…

For a while Kain remained there, just watching his last kill's motionless form as if he was waiting for something to happen. But nothing did.

Half an hour later, wishing the sharp scent of blood would leave him and the screams would stop reverberating around his skull, he left the slaughterhouse he had turned his son's home into.

-x-

He had intended to return to the Sanctuary the moment that he had completed what he had set out to do but an aching heart drove him to stay at the one place he wished that he could have avoided completely; the Abyss, churning as strongly as it ever had with disembodied cries of suffering rising from its unknown depths.

At the edge of the execution platform Kain stood, forcing himself to look down at the spiralling water that drew his gaze to its centre as if beckoning him to it.

It was too late for regret, too late for sorrow and far, far too late to want to make a different choice…too late for everything.

Raziel was really gone and his children were lying in so many broken, bloody heaps around their home…and Kain had done it all.

He repeated the reasons that he had done what he did again and again like some kind of soothing mantra but each time it circled his thoughts it became mingled with the lingering screams until he could no longer distinguish the comforting words from the hellish shrieks he longed to escape.

Plagued by these noises, he clamped his hands tightly against he ears and violently shook his head as though somehow he could dislodge what was refusing to leave him.

"I had to!" he shouted to the empty scene as if hoping that the whirlpool below could swallow his words and deliver them to his lost son. "It was the _only_ way!"

He let go of his head and turned his face to the smoke smothered sky to whisper the same wretched explanation quietly to it…almost trying to convince himself that his words were true. "It is the only way…I don't have another choice unless I stop trying to make things right again."

His senses whirled, spun by the distressed screaming and wailing from the unseen source all around, emanating from the water that beat relentlessly against the confining stone walls. He could still see the sliding trail of smeared blood, now dried into a blackened shade rather than the vivid red it had once been, on the naturally carved platform he stood upon…spread by the rag like remains of Raziel's wings as he had been dragged along by his own brothers.

Slowly at first but rapidly gathering regularity, silent tears began to join the water far beneath his claws. Contrary to popular belief the tears of vampires are no different from the tears of humans except that one kind is far heavier with the burden of immortality; the inability to escape their cause. But it was short lived and the weeping ended as quickly as it came.

He blinked his eyes clear and focused again on the Abyss.

It felt as though it was calling him. The water that tumbled endlessly seemed to be offering him one last option…one extreme solution to end his internal turmoil reflected in the vortex summoning him.

If there had been anyone watching they could have believed that he had simply blacked out; each of his joints buckling under him and causing him to drop in one fluid motion from the platform that separated him from the same awful fate he had forced upon so many others.

As the air whipped past, the screams and the booming of the waterfalls grew louder and closer he was ready to welcome the end that they offered but his dark heart skipped a beat and forced another sickening reminder into his thoughts. As the water of the Abyss reached up to claim him he did what Raziel had been incapable of doing, what he had deliberately prevented him from doing; he opened his wings, dissolving not into the water but instead into a cloud of cold black bats and flew…flew away to return to the life he had forged, to wait and to hope.

There was yet more to be done and it would be a long time until it was over.

_If _it was ever over.

Suicide was no way for it to end. He had decided that long ago…and Ariel was there every day to remind him. If he gave up now, then it was all for nothing.

No matter what he had to do, no matter how it tore him apart, he would never allow Moebius and _Them _to win. The infamous _Them. _They had no right to do this to him and he would never let Them win.

Never.

Whatever the cost.

The End

_Author's Note – Ta-da; my first LoK angst, and also my first LoK one shot. Hope you enjoyed. I know that a lot of you people will hate how emotional I made him but please don't flame me. It just came into my head, so I wrote it down. It was originally going to be called 'Genocide', but I found out that someone else on another site had already used that title. I know I still could have used it but I decided not to all the same._


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